Christian McCaffrey is set to miss at least three more games. The Panthers announced today (via Twitter) that they’ve placed their star running back on injured reserve.
This is a tough blow for the Panthers. McCaffrey hasn’t played since he exited his Week 3 contest with a hamstring injury. The Panthers’ initial decision to not place their starting RB on injured reserve provided some optimism that the player would be back sooner than later. Considering the three-week IR requirement, some even assumed the 25-year-old would be back on the field this weekend considering he’s already missed two games.
Alas, we found out yesterday that McCaffrey wouldn’t play tomorrow against the Vikings. Now, thanks to today’s move, the versatile offensive weapon won’t see the field until at least the team’s matchup against the Patriots on November 7.
Following a historic 2019 campaign that saw him finish with 2,392 yards from scrimmage and 19 touchdowns, the Panthers made McCaffrey the highest-paid RB in the NFL when they gave him a four-year, $64MM deal. However, the RB was limited to only three games last season, and he completed only two games in 2021 before suffering another injury. Through two-plus games this year, McCaffrey has collected 364 yards from scrimmage and one touchdown on 68 carries.
With McCaffrey still out of the lineup, the team will continue relying on rookie fourth-round pick Chuba Hubbard as their top running back. The fill-in had the best game of his rookie campaign in Week 5, finishing with 134 yards from scrimmage.
The Panthers made a handful of additional moves today, including placing rookie offensive lineman Deonte Brown on IR. The team also signed guard Michael Jordan to the active roster, and they promoted punter Ryan Winslow and running back Spencer Brown from the taxi squad.
Carolina Panthers sign guard MICHAEL JORDAN !!
Do. Not. Pay. Runningbacks.
No one can accurately claim to be into “analytics” while simultaneously going against this mantra.
I’ll be an advocate of “analytics” when they can measure the truly important metrics like will to win. If your not going to pay RBs then you make yourself a one dimensional offense that will have to pass 60 times a game to be successful. Few teams can do that.
That’s blatantly false. You can draft RBs (Hubbard) or sign cheap FAs (e.g., Mike Davis, CJ Anderson in Carolina) and they step in do just fine. When I say don’t pay RBs, I’m talking about 2nd contract, BIG $$ paydays. They’re just not worth it in today’s game and positional value (Bell, Gurley, CMC). RBs in today’s league are among the easiest positions to replace, production-wise, and that’s an objectively observable fact.
You didn’t specify extensions or big money paydays in the original comment. I still believe top performing RBs offer plenty of value to a coach and apparently so do many GMs.
I should’ve thought the meaning was obvious, but apparently not to everyone. In any event, I’m happy GMs are willing to spend on these RBs who never live up to their billing. Let ’em go to those GMs LOL. Everybody’s happy.
There are highly paid players at every position that fail to live up to their billing. I’ve always advocated rewarding top performers, even if they happen to be at the unpopular RB position.
Well, I mean good for you. But the data over the past 15 years or more very definitively demonstrate a lack of correlation between paying 2nd-contract RBs and championship deliverance, which is the crux of my point. Any other point you want to make on the matter which deviates from this is irrelevant to what I’m saying.
I responded to your original comment which simply said ‘Do not pay runningbacks’. I know nothing about this 15 year data and alleged correlation your suggesting exists. I can’t recall any owner, GM or coach ever stating RBs on second contracts are responsible for delivering championships so perhaps it’s actually that data that is irrelevant.
This guy is no more than a 3rd round 10-12 touches per game. Can they cut him and avoid payment? Perfect for a team like Baltimore or KC
Are we sure he’s injured, or just found a new way to avoid playing in games that aren’t really that important?